Hat Yai Here I Come!

Initially I was really a bit pissed about this trip. This was because a friend was given the task to arrange this trip a few weeks back but due to some rubbish circumstances, I was then handed the task 2 days ago. The only piece of information that was given to me was a website with some hotel accommodation details. I was pretty unhappy as the trip was due for the 7th of June which was Agong's Birthday. Its way too little time to plan for a trip from scratch i thought. Nevertheless the others was really eager to go so I took on the task of organizing it at the end.

Lee Garden Plaza Hotel

Anyways, I am glad to say that after 2 days of frantic planning with cost of calls to Thailand probably on par with my one night accommodation at Hat Yai, I manage to pull through. The local travel agents did not entertain me as I was told there is no rooms available (I needed 8 rooms all together). I then scoured through the Internet and manage to find one that gave me a bit of hope. After calling them a couple of times, I finally manage to get rooms at the Lee Garden Plaza Hotel Hat Yai. The rate was fantastic as well, I was only charged 1260 baht per room including breakfast (not bad for a 3 star hotel during peak season I thought).

I also manage to charter a 26 seater bus for our trip up. This comes to about RM223 per person for the whole trip.

So, tentatively, we shall be traveling to Hat Yai Friday early morning (around 12-1am) just in time for a very early breakfast at Hat Yai and returning on Sunday night.

Its been a long time since I took a break. Looking forward to it.


P.S Some people asked me which site I used to get my bookings. I booked mine through http://www.hotelthailand.com/

My 20 Minute Photo Outing

It was a rainy day

I went for a short photo outing

I'll blog more about it when I have the time

Its late and I have to go to bed.

I Don't Have Friends, They Are All DEAD!!

Been preparing my PowerPoint presentation on Preventable Blindness today. The roughly 30-40 minutes talk will be held this Wednesday night. My eyes feel like popping out after editing lots of graphics and presentation notes. Anyway its like 90% done. Going to leave the rest for tomorrow. I am more or less zapped.

On a side note. I had an interesting conversation with a patient of mine who is a big time businessman in town.

Me : So Mr X, your business been pretty successful now ya. You got x branches now.
Mr X : I am fortunate. Nowadays I can pretty much relax and let the business run by itself.
Me : That's really good. So what do you normally do during your free time?
Mr X : Not much to be honest. I don't have much friends
Me : Huh? Why not?
Mr X : Most of my friends are either dead or in jail. Besides if I did have my old friends coming to see me its best not to see them. They are normally trouble.
Me : OIC (I quickly changed to a different subject after that)

Now I am beginning to wonder where he got all the wealth from.

5.8 Magnitude Aftershock Hits China

Another big aftershock hit China's Sichuan province today reportedly damaging more than 70,000 homes. Whats more worrying is that Chinese officials warned that 69 dams in the province damaged in the original quake were in danger of bursting their banks.

Let us all pray that this does not happen.

You can read more regarding this here

Fight For Kisses

I got this YouTube link from a friend through MSN

Way cool. Babies with an attitude =))

The Day My Friendster Turned Malay

I have not logged in Friendster for a long time, so just logged in today to see if there is anything new.

I got a surprise when I saw this....


My Friendster have turned Malay on me! I wonder why Friendster changed my settings for no odd reason.

%$&*!#^*&#%@!$&^&##@%$

Life : The Eternal Flight of Steps

So here I am sitting in front of the PC at work with nothing much to do. Somehow all needed to be done have been done and I find myself idling my time away in front of the idiot box.

Suddenly there is a sense of why we are living life as we are. Life seems to be an eternal journey led by mortal desires. When I was a child, I have always wished that I could grow up faster and do what the adults can do. Now I AM an adult, I wished life could be as simple as when I was still a kid.

We grow up having desires and as we achieve one level of desire we then move on to the next. This journey we call life is like and endless flight of steps. Its a flight of stairs that we need to walk on but sometimes we loose touch of where this stairs all leads us to. To some life could be a labyrinth of eternal doors and steps. We move, open the door and there we see many more stairs leading to many more doors ahead.

Isn't it nice if the creator could just make it more convenient for us and make escalators instead of stairs and this escalator leads us straight to where we want to be.

Then again life would be dull and meaningless without some uncertainties and variety.

In short, we are never content with what we have and we strive for better things in life.

After all, we are only human


P.S No worries.... this is not an emo post. I am just shit bored in the office.... lol

Changes Of Time

Had a long conversation with a friend the other day. Talked about how time flies and how all of us change with time. Then a sudden question came out.

"How different are you now compared to Jan 2007?"

Not that easy to answer since Jan 2007 is not long ago. Somehow time seems to walk pass faster then normal. 2007 seems fresh in mind and I can surely tell you most of the nitty gritty events that happened to me that year without needing to think much about it.

Anyways, this was my reply

1. I now have a habit of using a belt stopper when I drive even if its for short distances.
   
2. I am now a blogger (I used to be an anti-blogger before believe it or not)
3. I am less uptight when it comes to money (spending more freely then before)
4. Accept things as it is (some things cannot be achieved just by hard work alone)
5. More open to new possibilities (used to be a self proclaimed skeptic)

How would you answer if the same question was directed at you?

Optical Illusion

Stare at the 4 vertical blue dots of this picture for 30 seconds.

After that look at a clear bright wall or just close your eyes.

Tell me what happened :)

Dr. Mahathir Quits Umno

Former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad today announced that he was quitting Umno with immediate effect and urged other members to follow him. He said he was quitting the party , which he had led for almost 22 years until handing over the reins to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2003, as a sign of no confidence in his successor's leadership. "I will only come back to the party when there is a change in leadership," the ex-premier told a crowd at a forum in his home state of Kedah this morning.

He also called on all Umno ministers, deputy ministers and all levels of party leaders to join him in quitting the party.

However, he asked these members not to join other political parties.

"Wait till Abdullah quit as the prime minister and party president and then we can return to Umno," he said.

Mahathir dropped the bombshell during his speech at the 'The Position of Malays post-12th General Elections' in Alor Star.

His resignation appears to be part of his strategy in upping the ante in his bid to force Umno president Abdullah to step down in the wake of the ruling coalition's worst electoral setback in the March 8 polls. "I will not ask others to do something that I dare not do. "I would rather do it myself first before calling on others to quit party," Mahathir, who was the country's fourth prime minister between 1981 and 2003, told journalists after speaking at the forum.

In an immediate response, Mahathir's close ally Sanusi Junid, the former mentri besar in Kedah, also announced his decision to quit the party.

Source : Malaysiakini


Tun Dr. Mahathir has once again up the ante on Abdulah Badawi. A typical and not surprising move by the master strategist. We can love him or hate him but one thing is for sure, no one can deny that he is one smart "ex-politician".

Will this trigger mass resignation among the UMNO rank and file? That we will know in the days to come.

One thing for sure, I predict other vateran UMNO members allied to Tun will follow suit since they really have nothing to loose (since they are already out of politics). But if senior cabinet ministers and state UMNO leaders starts resigning too then we might see the formation of a new government or snap elections being called.

Will Badawi step down? Somehow I don't think he would.

One things for sure, Anwar Ibrahim will be smiling eye to eye right now.

Times running out for Badawi and maybe the BN as a whole.

Weekend Blues

Its almost 2am and I am still pretty much awake.

Been listening to some music and catching up on blogs that I have not had time to read this week. This is just the sort of month in which you feel that you have a lot of free time but yet you cannot find time to do the trivial type of things that you wish you could do. I haven't polished my car for a whole month and that's normally just a drive down to Jusco Ipoh. I just don't know where my time have been spent on nowadays. Very self conflicting indeed.

This month has also been a month with no weekend for myself. Just as I thought I could take a break on my own this weekend, I found myself needing to visit someone at Gleneagles, Ampang. So I need to get my lazy ass up tomorrow morning and drive down to KL and back. Not sure what I will be doing there afterwards. Call up someone for lunch or coffee perhaps? Will play it by ear.

Anyways, better go to bed. Don't wanna drive halfway and fall asleep tomorrow.

Dr. Mahathir Strikes Back : Challenges Government To Charge Him

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today challenged the government to charge him for his alleged involvement in a judge-fixing scandal during his rule.

The government yesterday released a report that found evidence of an "insidious" conspiracy to influence the appointment of judges and had listed Mahathir, along with other top figures, as being involved.

Following the release of the report, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's cabinet agreed for the Attorney-General's Chambers to immediately investigate the allegations against those identified in the report, including Mahathir.

"I welcome it," the 82-year-old influential leader said at a meeting in Johor.

"I want them to charge me in court. Only then will I have the opportunity to expose more conflicts faced by the judges, including those who have implicated me," he told reporters.

The report was prepared by a royal commission that investigated a video clip allegedly showing top lawyer VK Lingam brokering judge appointments.

Source : Malaysiakini


I never doubt for one moment that Dr. M would not strike back. If they proceed with it, then the the government will definitely be eating something more then they could chew.

Skeleton's will be having a field day.

A Sign?

I wonder if its bad omen.

Was closing up after work when my key accidentally dropped and bounced back into the office. With no way of taking it out myself, I had to get someone to bring me the spare key.

Later when I reach home, I accidentally knocked on a glass jar and shattered it. Luckily I was wearing long pants so I was not injured or anything.

Makes me wonder whats next.

Cataract Surgery

I am in the midst of preparing a powerpower point presentation for "The Right To Sight" community project. One of the issues that I would be talking about is the prevalence of cataracts being one of the major contributor towards blindness among poor communities. It only takes a simple 10 minute surgical procedure in order to restore their sight.

Many people have asked me about cataract surgery so I have included a clip in my presentation.

I am also including it here as I am sure many people are curious what cataract surgery looks like and truly how simple the whole procedure is.

Warning: If you squirm looking at a bit of blood and faint at the sight of surgical procedures, do not proceed any further. You have been warned.

Britney Spears Pregnant Again?

The Daily Mail reported on a picture showing Britney Spears cradling her swollen looking belly on a shopping trip and thus suggesting that she may be pregnant again for the 3rd time.

with a tummy that big who on earth would not speculate right?

In the not so distant past, Britney have been involved with a nasty custody battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, hospitalised at a psychiatric ward, charged with a hit and run and shaved her head bald.

So one would wonder if the pregnancy is real, then the life of our Miss Britney may turn for the better?

Wishful thinking....

Massive Earthquake Rocks Central China

I heard of this unfortunate news this morning as I was driving to work from the radio.

The quake that struck at 2.28pm is said to be the largest the region has seen for over a generation. The last major earthquake in the region occurred in the northwestern margin of the Sichuan basin when a 7.5 magnitude quake killed more than 9,300 people on August 1933.

The quake which was again centered in the Sichuan province is said to have killed 12,000 people so far. It was estimated that nearly 30 seismic aftershock jolts hit the province in the first 24 hours following Monday's quake and this has slowed down the progress of 1,300 strong rescued teams dispatched into the area. All of this quakes were magnitude between 4.0 and 6.0.

In the coming days, I am sure this number will swell as authorities have only began to reach the worse hit areas. Thousands remained trapped under the rubble, including hundreds of children at half-dozen schools.

Let us all pray and hope that rescue efforts will go smoothly.

The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour is a feature film documentary on the state of our current environment. Narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary depicts the grave problems faced by mother nature in current times. This documentary pulls in prominent speakers such as physicist Stephen Hawking, former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev among others and talks about threats to the environment such as global warming, deforestation, extinction of species and ultimately the extinction of mankind.

Watching the movie, I can't help thinking that humans are not destroying the environment but destroying themselves. Even if humans are destroyed by global warming and its aftermath and 99.99% of life die, nature will eventually heal itself and return to its former glory. Nature has all the time in the world but humankind don't.

Another scary fact from the film - Humans contribute to 55,000 extinctions every year

But besides the grim picture portrayed, the film also touched on potential solutions to the current problem.

To those that have watched "An Unconventional Truth" narrated by Al Gore, 11th Hour although not as good as the former is a good watch and serves as a clear reminder that we are the generation that could change the perception of this world that is facing extinction. If the people of our generation do not tackle the problem of global warming now, the next generation may not have a chance to do so.

I am not just an Optometrist

I am also the cleaning lady.

This are like really old frames that I still have around. Notice the smiley face? That's how thick the dust have accumulated over the years.

All of them packed nicely into a box and into the storeroom

I am also the repairman

This lady wanted her glasses adjusted. Notice the really dirty nose pads? Yuck! And she refused to have them changed.....

I am also the technician

My Grover showing his tantrums. Took me more then an hour to have the belt fixed

And apparently, I am also Aedes mosquito

The Department of Health being inconsiderate yet again by fogging the whole area without informing us before hand. They want to kill us as well as those mozzies!

This more or less summarize my week at work among other things that I have done :P

My First Cheque From Nuffnang

After waiting for a bit over a month, my advertisement withdrawal from nuffnang finally arrived. Not a lot of money but not bad for a blog that started off just November last year as a medium to let loose some steam.

Shopping money... yay!

Maxis Message Plus

Maxis recently launched a very unique sms service called Message Plus. With just RM1 per month, maxis users can control, personalize and automate their short message service.

This service consist of 3 key features namely Sms Blacklist, SMS Auto-Reply and SMS Copy.

The SMS Blacklist in my opinion is a god sent. Maxis claim that this anti-spam or blacklist feature is the first to be offered by a mobile operator in the world.

With this new feature we can now block all those annoying spams as well as block desperate ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, annoying friends, stalkers and other pests from sms'ing us rubbish and pollute our phone with unwanted reading material. Nevertheless, you better pray hard that these pest uses Maxis operator since you can only block people using maxis line (i.e 012, 0142 and 017). To the pest out there, go change to Digi if you want to stalk your prey. If you are like totally famous or infamous with 100's of pest down your throat, then you may be out of luck as well since you are only allowed to block 100 numbers.

Its also worth to note that, blacklisted numbers will not know that they are blacklisted.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.


Next is the SMS Auto-Reply.

Just say you are abroad or in a meeting and can't reply your sms'es, this nifty feature allows you to set a standard or personalized auto-reply message to attend to all your incoming messages. So useful if your in the toilet and having constipation, this feature can totally help you out while you concentrate your full attention to expunged unwanted waste from your body.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.

Finally we got the SMS Copy.

If you are using a crappy phone with no color screen then this may be a feature for you. Why? crappy phone without color screen surely won't have sms forwarding feature right? Then again I might be wrong so shoot me.

Anyways, this feature allow you to automatically copy everyone the message that you wish to share. You can customize who and to whom the message will be forwarded to. In short, forward messaging service lah.

To activate this feature, follow the steps as shown from the diagram below.

All this for a whopping RM1. Nice feature to have get right?

So get your lazy fingers moving and subscribe to the service by typing "MENU" and send to 21000, then reply with "1".

That's all folks.

P.S Maxis didn't pay me to do advert for them but this service is something pretty useful. I am playing around with the blacklist now. Haha

Bird Watching At Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld)

I was at Port Weld last weekend for some seafood and bird watching.

Once the busiest port in the region, its facilities were mainly for exporting of processed tin ore. Opened in 1877 as the gateway for cargo ships, Port Weld is now called Kuala Sepetang. No longer a main port, it is now mainly used by fishing boats.

In the past, Port Weld was an important port for import export activities between Taiping and Penang. Apart from Teluk Intan. Port Weld is also used as an exit point to the Kinta District and Upper Perak District. At that time, the items traded were opium, preserved vegetables, tobacco and tin ore.Port Weld's activities with Taiping increased when a railroad was built. Works on the railroad started in the end of 1884 and its construction was managed by the Ceylon Pioneer Corps. On February, the railroad was officially opened and plying the Taiping and Port Weld route transported passengers and goods.

(info from virtualmalaysia.com)

After doing some research on the net, I manage to identify this bird as Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus). The bird is medium-sized raptors (birds of prey), with a white head and breast. The rest of its body is a striking chestnut brown. The very tip of its tail is white. The wings are broad, with dark 'fingered' wing tips and the tail is short. The legs are short and not feathered, the eye is dark and the lemon yellow coloured bill is strongly hooked. It sails on level wings along shorelines and mudflats.

The Brahminy Kite feeds on carrion (dead animals), insects and fish. It swoops low over water, the ground or tree tops and snatches live prey or carrion from the surface. It also steals from fish-hunting birds, snatching prey in flight.

The nest of the Brahminy Kite is built in living trees near water, often mangrove trees. The nest is large, made from sticks, seaweed or driftwood and lined with a variety of materials such as lichens, bones, seaweed and even paper. Both parents incubate the eggs and the young are fed bill to bill with small pieces of food .

a closeup picture sourced from www.birdsinbackyards.com

BUSY BUSY BUSY

April have certainly been a real busy month for me. Business is doing suprisingly well this month. Of course this I am not complaining *kaching!* If I can maintain the same figures for May then I may seriously think of getting what I plan for 2009 done this year instead.

On the community work (Rotary) front, this year would be a very exciting year indeed. After a few weeks of brainstorming, I have finally got the go ahead from my IPP to take charge of my proposed project. For the past few years, I have seen many elderly patients with cataracts but due to the cost of the surgery, many from the poor are unable to proceed with the surgery and in the process loose their sight. Even if they are to do the surgery at government hospitals, they still need to bear the cost of the Intra Ocular Lens that may cost from RM600 to RM900.

My project tentatively named "Fight for Sight" would involve the identification of this group of people, provide consultation, expertise, and then source them with the necessary funds to undertake cataract extraction. The next 2 month will see me scouring for funds and expertise to get the project underway. Fingers crossed this would be another successful project. Expectations are high since the last Rotary Health Camp 2008 saw unprecedented success. Nevertheless, i am confident as this subject matter is something close to my heart.